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❝ PORTAL MANIPULATION.❞
MADISON WAS SEVEN when Zeus had uplifted the ban on the gods to see their children in 1980. That year, her mother had sat her down and told her of her father—her real father, not the sexist, deadbeat drunk who Maddi had always thought was her dad. That was the year Maddi's mom decided to leave him and they moved to Florida to start a new life; a life that was entirely different but exciting and terrifying. It was also the year she went to Mount Olympus for the first time and met Hermes, and she knew from that moment on she could never love anyone more than she did her father.
Even as the years went by, even as her likes and interests slowly changed from dolls and playing outside with her friends to skateboarding and being a rule breaker, and even as she moved from having many childhood friends to having none at all, her love for her father never wavered once.
As she walked down the empty streets of Hawkins, alone as the morning sun rose over the town, she thought of her father, subconsciously reaching her hand up to rub the purple gemstone that hung at her throat between her fingers.
She recalled theday her father had given her the amethyst necklace. She was twelve, and summer had just come around again as she arrived in Mount Olympus with her backpack and skateboard in hand. While the other demigods were outside, chatting and sharing stories from their past year, Madison had gone inside the palace, eager to see Hermes. And when she saw him, she had ran to him and he lifted her up in his arms and told her how much he missed her. And then he gave her a small box, and inside it was a purple gemstone that hung on a gold chained necklace. As long as you wear this, he had said to her, I'll always be with you. You'll never be alone, Mads.
Madison had come across a large hill and decided to climb it, and now, she was sitting at the top, watching the town begin to wake up as people and cars filled up the streets from below her. Her father's words played in her mind over and over, the sound of his voice so close yet so distant. You'll never be alone, Mads.
But now, as she pressed the purple gemstone between her fingers, feeling its many sharp edges graze her skin, she couldn't help but think her dad was a terrible liar after all. Because even with her gemstone in hand, she had never felt more alone.
An abrupt wave of anger came over her, causing her to yank the purple crystal that hung at her throat off its chain. It was anger at the other demigods, anger at the world, anger at Hades, anger at her father for leaving her when she needed him most. Maybe Hades was telling the truth all along. Maybe their parents really were dead.
